The Black Keys Explain Why They Took A 5-Year Break Between Albums

By Katrina Nattress

September 24, 2019


In June The Black Keys released their ninth studio album Let's Rock, and needless to say fans were ready — it had been five years since Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney dropped its predecessor, Turn Blue. This was the duo's longest break between records, and Billboard got to the bottom of why they decided to wait so long during a recent interview.

"The break we just got off of was the result of all of these opportunities [that] presented themselves to us for the first time that we never thought were possible," Carney explained. "Brothers was our first record that was a hit, and it's our sixth album. It took us eight and a half years of pretty much constant work until that happened, and so when it did happen — we'd been a band for almost a decade. We just said yes to everything."

"We were just burned out. Been on the road a little too long, hit it a little too hard. Never said no," Auerbach added.

"When we came back to make our record, I think the only thing that was preventing [recording] from happening sooner was that we had to figure out how we could go make a record that wouldn't result in us having to go on tour for the entire year," Carney continued. "That's not something we ever want to do again."

When asked if we'll have to wait another five years for record number 10, Auerbach laughed. "No — I think that what we're gonna try to do is pace ourselves," he said. "Try and do it in a normal way, instead of like a couple of maniacs just tearing around the globe. We need to slow it down a bit."

The Black Keys kicked off their Let's Rock tour with an intimate show in LA that unfortunately didn't go down as planned. Instead of touring for a whole year, they'll be on the road until the end of November. Check out a full list of dates here.

Photo: Alysse Gafkjen

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